Conflict of ‘enormous proportions’ brewing thanks to Obama anti-marriage stance: head of US bishops

NEW YORK, NY, September 23, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has expressed his “strong disappointment” in an open letter to the U.S. president over his policies that threaten true marriage and the traditional family.

“Recent actions taken by your Administration … both escalate the threat to marriage and imperil the religious freedom of those who promote and defend marriage,” wrote New York’s Archbishop Dolan to President Obama on September 20th, 2011.

This letter comes at a time when the Obama Administration has shifted from not defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to actively attacking the Act’s constitutionality. Just two months ago the Department of Justice (DoJ) filed a brief in Golinski v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, arguing that DOMA should be struck down as a form of sexual orientation discrimination.

In the letter, the archbishop states that he and his brother bishops cannot be silent “when federal steps harmful to marriage, the laws defending it, and religious freedom continue apace.”

Archbishop Dolan says he fears that the Obama Administration’s assault on DOMA will precipitate a “national conflict between Church and State of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions.”

“Our profound regard for marriage as the complementary and fruitful union of a man and a woman does not negate our concern for the well-being of all people but reinforces it.”

“Every child has the right to be loved by both a mother and a father. The institution of marriage is built on this truth, which goes to the core of what the Catholic Bishops of the United States, and the millions of citizens who stand with us on this issue, want for all children and for the common good of society.”

Dolan said that the bishops “recognize the immeasurable personal dignity and equal worth of all individuals, including those with same-sex attraction, and we reject all hatred and unjust treatment against any person.”

Nevertheless, he continued, “While all persons merit our full respect, no other relationships provide for the common good what marriage between husband and wife provides.”

The archbishop urged the President to end his campaign against DOMA and marriage.

“Our federal government should not be presuming ill intent or moral blindness on the part of the overwhelming majority of its citizens, millions of whom have gone to the polls to directly support DOMAs in their states and have thereby endorsed marriage as the union of man and woman. Nor should a policy disagreement over the meaning of marriage be treated by federal officials as a federal offense—but this will happen if the Justice Department‟s latest constitutional theory prevails in court.”

“Mr. President, I respectfully urge you to push the reset button on your Administration‟s approach to DOMA.”

In addition to working to repeal DOMA, President Obama and his administration have taken numerous other steps to support the homosexual lobby and its political and social aims.

Last May, the Obama administration had expressed support for a bill—Every Child Deserves a Family Act—that ensured adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. The bill proposed to punish adoption and foster care agencies that refuse to participate in same-sex adoptions or foster care.

This past Tuesday, President Obama’s repeal of the military policy know as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” came into effect, which legally normalized homosexuality in the military.

The president has also reportedly appointed a record number of open homosexuals to government posts, more than any other U.S. president.